


A Basic, Pathetic Spelling Mistake

by Biscuit Lion (cookiethelion)



Category: Dawn in Naples - SNH48 (Music Video)
Genre: F/F, Friends to Enemies to Friends Again to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 11:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14831604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cookiethelion/pseuds/Biscuit%20Lion
Summary: In which the Duchess wakes up two days after the Princess kissed her hand.





	A Basic, Pathetic Spelling Mistake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Piinutbutter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piinutbutter/gifts).



> There are two versions of the MV; the [short](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2VjsFOyn5E) version, and [long](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8olns_QUmE) version. I would recommend watching both MVs first.
> 
> I decided to make each singer an original character instead, so to run down who’s who based on the [promotional picture](http://stage48.net/wiki/images/3/30/SNH4817thPromoB.jpg), we have:
> 
> Front row, left to right:  
> Duchess Shi Baofeng: 石保凤. Her surname, shi, means rock or stone. Bao means protect, and feng is from fenghuang, the Chinese phoenix.  
> Princess Long Meiyu: 龙美玉. Her surname, long, means dragon. When put together, Meiyu means fine jade.  
> Marquise Huang Xiuying: 黄秀英
> 
> Middle row, left to right:  
> Marquise Qiao Zhuling: 乔珠玲  
> Lin Yongqiu: 林永秋  
> Marquise Jin Rudan: 金如丹  
> Lin Yongchun: 林永春  
> Lin Yongxia: 林永夏  
> [Last two are not important to the story]
> 
> Back row, left to right:  
> Baroness Xiao Meiqi: 萧美棋  
> Duchess Hong Lina: 洪丽娜  
> Duchess Qiao Jiayin: 乔嘉音  
> Duchess Lu Xue: 陆雪  
> [Last two are not important to the story]
> 
> At the start of the MV, the narrator describes the nation the story is set in as being made up of 16 islands. The island the characters live on is Yidao, 意岛, with yi meaning thought, and dao meaning island. The other five islands I've mentioned are:
> 
> Yinshudao, 银树岛, or silver tree island  
> Jinniaodao, 金鸟岛, or gold bird island  
> Xigongdao, 西宫岛, or western palace island  
> Shaoyuedao, 少月岛, or little moon island  
> Anshandao, 安山岛, or peaceful mountain island
> 
> Lastly, _lenggong_ (冷宫) is a term that translates as 'cold palace'. Historically, this is where wives who had fallen out of favour with the emperor were banished to.

When Baofeng woke up—still dressed in her tailcoat but now missing her sword—she knew from the four poster bed’s cream and golden curtains that she had been put in the palace’s Josephine Suite. The late King had always assigned the Josephine Suite to guests he hated or found boring; and over time, Baofeng and Meiyu had begun to refer to the suit as the _lenggong_.

She got off the bed, and looked up. The mural on the ceiling depicted a scene from Romance of the Three Kingdoms painted Baroque style. Baofeng scoffed; the whole palace had been rebuilt to look like it had come out of Italy in the 1700s, and yet all the artwork were of Chinese history, myths, and legends that had existed centuries beforehand. Even the birds and flowers that adorned the brocade upholstery had been designed to look Chinese instead of Western.

Baofeng walked over to the window, and looked out at the cloudy sky. She must have been moved here after Meiyu had kissed her hand, and with such a cold look too. She’d never seen her childhood friend like that before; was this to do with those girls? How long had Meiyu been hanging around with them for—wait, why did she even care, they were enemies now—?

The doors opened, and Baofeng glared at Meiyu walking in, and then at the seal she had hung around her neck. She sat down again as Meiyu shut the doors; and while she waited, she clenched the edge of the mattress tight enough that she felt the bedsheet slide and gather under her palms.

“Good morning,” said Meiyu. Her tone was calm.

“What are you here for?” said Baofeng.

“I take it you know where you are?”

“Josephine Suite. Bit excessive to put me in the _lenggong_ that fast, isn’t it?” Baofeng had to put a fight still, even if she already knew the motive.

Meiyu shook her head, and said, “It's for security reasons.”

“As if.” Baofeng stood up. “If you’re here for chitchat, you can go away.”

“I have actual business with you.”

“I don’t want a part in it.”

“If you help me, you can leave the _lenggong_ for good.”

Baofeng pursed her lips to keep her expression neutral. Her voice didn’t shake as she said, “Aren’t you scared I’m going to overthrow you again?”

“It is a risk I am willing to take,” said Meiyu. There was no indication that she’d seen through Baofeng’s calmness. “There is a threat coming from another island. If Yidao falls, we are both going to be in trouble.”

Baofeng sighed. “Which island are we talking about?”

Meiyu rolled her eyes. “Take a guess which one.”

Baofeng hesitated as she went through all sixteen islands—and then, with a small smile, said, “Anshandao.” Of course the one island with ‘peace’ in its name had to be the trouble maker.

***

Baofeng had to wait until the next afternoon before she was finally escorted out of the Josephine Suite. At first, it looked as though the guards were leading her to a different suite, until they took a right turn down a marble staircase that was three floors high, and Baofeng then realised she was being led to the Throne Room.

The guards threw the doors open but remained outside, allowing Baofeng to walk in on her own. Nothing about the room had changed. A carpet still ran down the middle; and on the other end was the throne, which was under a burgundy and gold-tasselled canopy. To the left of the canopy was a smaller gilded door, which was also the only other entrance into the room.

As she strode over to what was left of her supporters, she felt like she had interrupted a three-way staring competition. Marquises Huang and Jin were waiting for her; standing by the throne were the Princess’ supporters, the Duchesses Qiao, Hong, and Lu, and Marquise Qiao; and on the opposite side of the room were Meiyu's three surprise friends.

“Duchess,” said Xiuying, once Baofeng joined them. “I am glad to see you again.”

“So am I,” said Baofeng. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Duchess’ hands resting on their hilts of their swords. “I take it you have heard the news?”

“If you mean the news from Anshandao, then yes,” said Rudan. “It is for this very purpose that we are allowed back in court at all.”

Baofeng nodded. She wondered if her other supporters would turn up—once upon a time, she could have predicted that Meiyu would have forgiven their entire team, but nowadays, she wasn’t sure anymore. She had never imagined the Princess could be so scheming, or even ally herself with people she’d never seen before.

The gilded door opened, and Meiyu emerged alone. Baofeng curtseyed, but along with Xiuying and Rudan, she went no lower than a slight crook of the knee.

“I am glad you are all here,” said Meiyu as she took her place on the throne. “We need to discuss the news from Anshandao which I believe you have all heard about?” A short silence fell, and Baofeng figured that Meiyu was waiting for an answer. “Is everything alright?”

“Your Highness,” said Duchess Qiao, “I believe we have not yet been introduced to several people standing with us right now.”

Along with everyone else, Baofeng glared at the three girls, who looked similar to the point where she wondered if they were sisters.

“I was getting to that,” said Meiyu, before she turned to the girls. “Please, introduce yourselves.”

Baofeng eyed the sisters as they stood in a triangular formation in front of Meiyu. The one in the center had her hair tied in a braid, and she took a few steps forward before she began to speak.

“My name is Lin Yongchun,” she said. She gestured to her left. “This is my younger sister, Lin Yongxia, and this is the youngest, Lin Yongqiu. We come from Anshandao, and we were the ones who told Princess Long that our homeland is planning a naval ambush on Yidao.”

“Why did you come to warn us?” said Duchess Lu. Baofeng glanced down at the whitening knuckles of the hand that was gripping her sword.

“I understand you are suspicious,” said Yongchun. “It is because we do not wish to see Yidao fall. Anshandao is ruled by Warlord Cao, a man who does not have the faintest idea about how to govern. He believes the best way is by brute force, intimidation, and threats. If he takes the seal and becomes King, then our entire nation is doomed.”

Baofeng turned to look at Rudan and Xiuying, and saw that they too were looking at her and each other in turn. The Lin sisters seemed genuine, but what if they had been trained?

“Where did you get the news from?” said Duchess Qiao. “What relation do you have with Warlord Cao?”

Baofeng eyed Yongxia and Yongqiu, who were both biting their lips. It took Yongchun a few seconds before she answered, “We are rarely involved in court affairs. Warlord Cao leaves most naval matters to his right hand man, Grand Duke Ximen, who in turn is loyally served by Marquis Pan. There have been several occasions when Marquis Pan needs assassins—and that is where our position lies.”

“So you are merely contractors?”

“If you like to put it that way, then yes, we are just contractors. We have performed our job well enough that we are—no, we _should_ —be above any suspicions of betrayal.”

Baofeng stepped forward. She was eager to know if the Lin sisters had met Warlord Cao; but before she could ask anything—

“We heard Marquis Pan wanted to send some spies to Yidao,” Yongchun continued, “so we offered to go. We have managed to delay our return so far by reporting—not too incorrectly, one would say—that we were caught in a succession crisis, and so we have been unable to obtain any useful information so far.”

“I take it, then, that Marquis Pan is aware you are close to the Princess?” said Rudan from over Baofeng’s shoulder.

“Yes.” Yongchun looked their way. Baofeng had only seconds of eye contact with her, but she had a feeling that Yongchun was sincere in her loyalty to Yidao. She then glanced at the throne, and saw Meiyu stand up.

“I think we have heard enough,” said Meiyu. “We know that Anshandao are planning a naval attack. I have already discreetly dispatched several messengers to other islands for their help, so we are not entirely unprepared. I will call you all here again at six, when I hope you have some ideas—”

Duchess Qiao raised her hand. Baofeng glared in her direction, and saw that the Princess’ supporters were all staring at them while gritting their teeth. She looked over her shoulder, and noticed that Xiuying and Rudan were also engaged in the staring war.

“Yes, Duchess Qiao?” said Meiyu.

“Your Highness, forgive me for this interruption, but we must ask why Duchess Shi, Marquise Huang, and Marquise Jin are still involved with state affairs.”

Baofeng would have been happy in keeping quiet, but she knew from how Meiyu lower her head slightly that she was both startled and threatened. Since Baofeng was also eager to know the answer, she immediately added, “Your Highness, it is a question I must ask as well.” She kept looking at Meiyu, even though she could sense her supporters’ glares turn on her.

Meiyu sighed, and turned to Duchess Qiao. “This invasion from Anshandao is a threat which will affect everybody who lives on Yidao. I asked Duchess Shi to work with us, so we can reassure the citizens that in times of crisis, the welfare of our island comes first over any internal politics.”

Baofeng glanced at the supporters again, and smirked at Duchess Qiao’s embarrassed face. Oh, it felt good to have Meiyu’s support again.

***

They had six hours to debate the best strategy for the oncoming threat, but it felt less to Baofeng, even though her castle was only a 15 minute drive away from the palace. Maybe it was because her mind still believed she was in the _lenggong_ ; or maybe it was the four guards that encircled her, all of them marching along at a pace that felt faster than her usual walk.

“Are we going to my study?” she said, when they passed through the front doors.

“Yes,” one of the guards at the front answered. There was a slight pause before he ended with, “ma’am.”

Under different circumstances, Baofeng would have scolded him. Instead, as she was escorted through her own home, she gritted her teeth when she noticed that all the ceremonial swords and spears that hung from her walls had been removed. She doubted she could have used them anyway—they were probably all blunt from decades and centuries of disuse—but she could have never guessed that Meiyu would just remove them from her property without even letting her know.

There were already guards waiting by the entrance to her study. Like before, the guards surrounding Baofeng also stepped aside; and as she walked ahead, she said, “Am I at least allowed to shut the door to my own study?” When nobody objected, she made sure to slam the door as hard as she could.

“Duchess Shi, you really mustn’t lose your temper so easily,” she heard Rudan say. “It is quite a dreadful sight, you know, and could cast a very bad image for all the nobles of Yidao.”

Baofeng eyed her two remaining supporters as she sat down at the head of the table. Even the table had been stripped bare, except for a lamp and a rolled up map. Both Xiuying and Rudan looked calm, and they were fanning themselves, although Baofeng noticed that Xiuying seemed to be moving her wrist more franticly.

“While I agree with your sentiment, Marquise Jin,” said Baofeng, “this is _my_ home, and nobody has the right to make _me_ feel like a prisoner _in my own home_.” She paused, aware that she had almost slapped the table. “We must not waste any more time on trivial matters. What has happened to our team?”

“They have all been dismissed, of course,” said Xiuying. She rolled her eyes, and then added, “The Princess says she was so worried for our safety that she even assigned each household some guards.”

Baofeng smiled. Well, that was one way of declaring house arrest on somebody.

“Except for Baroness Xiao,” said Rudan. “She personally applied to the Princess to take leave, on the grounds her maternal great-aunt—who lives on Jinniaodao, by the way—was severely unwell.” She snapped her fan shut. “In the one year we have known her, she has never uttered a single word of devotion towards her mother’s family. How convenient, then, that the moment there is trouble, her distant relative happens to fall ill too.”

“So Baroness Xiao is now in Jinniaodao?” said Baofeng.

“Correct.”

“Were you both dismissed as well?”

“Yes, but barely two days later, we were asked to return to court. It quite confused us at first, until we learned about Anshandao.”

Baofeng stood up. “I take it that the Princess has been formally chosen as the new monarch?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Xiuying. She bowed her head.

“When is her coronation?”

“It is not set in stone yet, but we believe it will happen at the start of next year.”

Baofeng counted down the remaining months with her fingers. She said, “The Princess’ power is not yet secure for another five months. We must use this time to prove ourselves. Marquis Huang, may I have the map?”

Xiuying stood up, and pushed the map down the table. Baofeng uncurled it, and glanced at the western side as she smoothed out the corners again. The nearest western island to them was Yinshudao, followed by Jinniaodao, Xigongdiao, and Shaoyuedao before it was Anshandao; but all the islands were so far apart that it would take at least a week for the opposing navy to reach them, and that was only under good weather conditions.

“We can depend on Shaoyuedao to put up no resistance at all,” said Rudan, “and, sadly, Princess Long is clever enough to know that. Even if they were allied with us, they are so small and worthless that Anshandao would sink all their ships and breeze through the island in less than an hour.”

“Was there any news about Xigongdao while I was unconscious?” said Baofeng. “Have they finally allied themselves with anybody?”

“Not at all. They are insistent as ever on remaining independent.”

Baofeng frowned, and looked down at the map. She studied the remaining islands for a few seconds, and then said, “The real coup would be if we succeeded in utilising the help of various Jinniaodao residents.” She shook her head slightly; the real power in the island lied with the various Dowager and Grand-Dowager nobles who, despite their age, still had military authority. As far as she could remember, Meiyu did have a great-aunt who lived abroad, but she wasn’t sure if her relative lived on Jinniaodao.

“Of course,” said Rudan. Baofeng looked up in time to see her open her fan. “But I must be blunt, Duchess Shi. I cannot see us capable of achieving such a feat with so little time, and no excellent connections at hand. I believe our best hope lies with Yinshudao. Silver is quite valuable too in the right situation.”

“I agree with you,” said Baofeng. She pushed the map away. “I will be very surprised if Yinshudao is not on the list of islands she has already sent her envoys to. Would I be right in saying that we have some strong allies on Yinshudao?”

“Yes,” said Xiuying. Baofeng saw her look over her shoulder; and when she continued, she had lowered her voice. “Marquise Jin and I are confident that Princess Long is depending on the Yue baronetcy. To our knowledge, she has no other allies on Yinshudao.”

Baofeng walked down the table as she spoke, “As advantageous as our connections are, how can we send anyone to Yinshudao now that our every step is being watched and judged?” She stopped when she noticed Rudan smirking.

“Marquise Huang and I have already resolved the problem,” said Rudan. “Sometimes, it pays to have very unsuspecting servants at one’s disposal.”

“Excellent.” Baofeng rubbed her hands together. “Before we get on to our presentation, do either of you have a weapon on you, by any chance?”

Xiuying shook her head. Rudan looked thoughtful for a minute, and then said, “We considered it foolish if we tried to conceal anything sharp on us. I do believe, however, that the Princess did not touch your collection of fans.”

Baofeng nodded, and then moved the conversation on. Like Xiuying and Rudan, she knew enough martial arts to use a fan as a weapon; and anything was better than going empty-handed.

***

The meeting went as Baofeng predicted; that the staring contest between the three fractions intensified as each side presented solutions and ideas; and that Meiyu’s supporters hated everything Baofeng’s team had to suggest, even though all their ideas amounted to utilising contacts on Yinshudao for help. At the end, Meiyu concluded the only other course of action they could take was to instruct their navy to prepare themselves.

The real test for Baofeng came that night. She had to get into the palace again; she had to ask Meiyu what was going on with her and the Lin sisters. All four guards were stood outside her bedroom door, and the only way she could get out was through a hidden trapdoor that looked like a part of the floorboards. She figured that Meiyu didn’t realise there were hidden escape routes in each room—which her father had built into the castle in case they fell under siege—otherwise there would be guards patrolling outside too.

On Rudan’s advice, Baofeng tucked the heaviest fan she had in her room into her belt, and then she jumped into bed. She switched the bedside lamp off, and pulled the sheets up to her chin so nobody could tell she was still fully clothed, and she waited for what felt like 15 minutes. In that time, none of the guards had opened the door to check she actually was asleep—and she waited for a few more minutes before she gently got out of bed again. She managed to raise the trapdoor without making a sound, and descended down a line of thin rungs drilled to one wall of a narrow bricked chute.

The chute was actually a hollowed-out pilaster, but it was still cramped enough that Baofeng couldn’t lean back too far or her shoulders would scratch against the wall. Most of the journey was in darkness, until she saw a faint light at the end; and when she leapt off the bottom rung, her feet landed on a lightly chipped concrete tile. She walked down the well-lit tunnel that she was sure she’d last been in when she was a teenager, not long after the castle had been completed. A companion had been with her—was it Meiyu?—but if it was, why didn’t she ransack the exit then?

The tunnel went on for longer than she remembered, and she emerged in the middle of some woods. There were a few paths running across the floor, hidden under weeds and stray plants that had grown from years of disuse. At first, all Baofeng knew was that if she went the right direction, she would emerge around the back of the palace; and as she turned around on the spot, looking for clues, she soon found something small glistening from a low branch of a nearby tree. She went over, and stood on tiptoes to pluck a bracelet.

The branch was pointing in the opposite direction, and Baofeng turned around as she inspected the bracelet. The beads were all made from jades of varying shades of dark green, and there were a few blotches, chips, and cut marks from the shoddy workmanship that had gone into making the jewellery. Baofeng frowned, and then gasped when she recalled, at last, that Meiyu had hung the bracelet there. Yes, that was it—she had to travel in the direction the branch was pointing.

Baofeng slipped the bracelet onto her wrist—she couldn’t leave any traces behind, she told herself—and drew her fan out as she began to follow the path. There didn’t appear to be any soldiers around, but as long as she was careful, she could easily dodge them if necessary.

By the time she made it to the back of the castle, she hadn’t seen a single soldier on the path. Was it possible that Meiyu had genuinely forgotten about the exit? Either way, Baofeng could think about that later; right now, she had to get into the castle. If the Lin sisters could make it, then how could she, a Duchess, fail? Besides, she’d spent the last decade of her life going in and out of the palace; it was like a second home to her. She managed to sneak her way in through one of the storage entrances; and as she made her way through to the upper floors of the palace, she wondered if there was a spare dagger somewhere that she could pinch.

She had made it to the topmost floor when she heard somebody approaching from a corridor up ahead, and she managed to slip behind a nearby statue of a lady just as Duchess Qiao and Marquise Qiao emerged. Baofeng steadied her breathing, and kept her fan pressed onto her chest as she heard them walk past the statue.

“Cousin,” she heard the marquise say, “are you sure we don’t have any powerful contacts on Jinniaodao?”

“I am sure we don’t,” said the duchess. “My father is going over the family tree now. He has promised to contact me if he finds anything significant.”

“Thank goodness for your father.”

Baofeng couldn’t hear any more, and she slowly peeped over the statue to see that the Qiaos had disappeared. She edged her way out and continued down the corridor—but she must have only taken about ten steps when she stopped. Her eyes widened as she saw Meiyu walking towards her.

“Princess Long?” said Baofeng softly. She glanced over her shoulder; the Qiaos couldn’t be too far away from them, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to involve them either.

She looked at Meiyu again. The princess’ stare almost made her flinch, and she was smirking in a way that Baofeng had only seen once before, when Meiyu had kissed her hand several days ago.

“Duchess,” said Meiyu in a tone that was completely absent of its usual warmth. “I thought you would come.”

“You are not the princess.”

“Answer me this, Duchess, do I look like Princess Long?”

Baofeng nodded. She was not going to grace the imposter with an answer.

“Since your answer is yes,” Meiyu continued, “then I am the princess.” Then she lunged, and Baofeng dived out of the way.

Baofeng stood up first, and she snapped her fan open as she spun around. For the first time, she noticed that Meiyu was holding a dagger, and she froze for a second—did Meiyu just try to stab her—?

Before she could say anything, Meiyu ran at her, and as she sidestepped, she flicked the wrist of her fan-hand. The guardsticks knocked Meiyu’s wrist, but it was only enough to make her almost drop the dagger. Baofeng retreated by a few paces, and she raised her fan to her chest like she was armed with her sword. She momentarily glanced at the mounted sword on the wall behind Meiyu; she figured she might have enough time to take it off the wall, but what if Meiyu was mad enough to impale herself on it?

Baofeng raised her free arm, prepared to push Meiyu back if needed. She began to run, but then stopped a few paces in when she realised that Meiyu was looking at the bracelet, as if transfixed. Was she recognising it? Or was she just waiting for her opponent to get even closer?

She retreated by a few steps, as if to test the water—and when Meiyu still didn’t respond, she fled to the stairs and didn’t once look over her shoulder as she made her escape. She dashed out of the palace, avoided all the soldiers, and made it through the forest and climbed her way back to her bedroom.

The first time she caught her breath was when she had jumped into her bed again, and pulled the sheets up to her chin. Even then, she could hardly sleep; Meiyu had just tried to injure her. This was the same person who, when she was eleven, once cried for well over ten minutes because Baofeng had accidentally trod on a ladybird. Sure, Baofeng had tried to poison her in the struggle for the throne, but hey, it had been clear from their childhoods that she was the more ambitious one. Besides, she’d picked a poison that put the victim to sleep first, so even if they thrashed a bit, they would still die in their sleep; that was better than being killed with a dagger, wasn’t it? At least the victim would never see the face of their killer in their final seconds of life.

Overall, Baofeng reckoned she must have only got about three or four hours of sleep, but she felt like she’d managed to sleep well. She was calm enough to keep her composure around the guards, and she made sure that the bracelet was hidden up her sleeve.

The post came shortly after breakfast, and the first letter on the pile had been folded into a gilded envelope. Baofeng frowned; what did the palace want with her now? She opened the envelope, read that the letter was summoning her to court within an hour, and then checked it over twice more before she looked up at the guards.

“Is your princess playing games with me?” she said.

“No, ma’am,” said the guards in unison.

Baofeng huffed and chucked the letter aside. She knew it would be foolish to ignore the letter, but she couldn’t work out what it was for. If Meiyu was conscious of their encounter last night, surely she should be trying to keep Baofeng away?

The guards escorted her to the palace with five minutes to spare; and Baofeng entered the throne room to see Duchesses Qiao, Hong, and Lu standing down the other end of the room, all talking to Baronet Yue. She was half-way down the room when the other nobles turned to look at her, and she saw the Duchesses’ faces were a mix of rage and confusion.

“What are you doing here?” said Duchess Qiao.

“Trust me,” said Baofeng, “I am just as confused as you are.”

She decided to stand on the other side of the throne, and stayed silent. She could hear Baronet Yue talk to the Duchesses in a lowered voice about his relatives on Yinshudao. She kept looking ahead at the door, partially because she didn’t want to seem like she was eavesdropping, but also because she was genuinely not that interested in what he had to say. She had gone over the power of his baronetcy with Xiuying and Rudan; they had all agreed that it was nothing significant.

The gold door opened after what felt like an hour of waiting, and Baofeng turned around. She waited until Meiyu had sat down before she curtseyed; and when she stood up, she made eye contact with the princess. Meiyu seemed pleased to see her, which puzzled Baofeng; the only other possibility was that she’d been sleepwalking last night, but sleepwalking didn’t make people want to murder anyone who got in their way.

“Thank you all for coming,” said Meiyu. “I have called you all here because of an issue that Baronet Yue raised with me regarding his constituents. The western side—”

“Princess,” said Duchess Qiao, “I am sorry to interrupt, but I must ask why we are still joined by Duchess Shi. I can understand that in war, we need as many allies as we can, but today, we are here to resolve a local problem.”

Meiyu nodded, and turned to Baofeng as she answered, “I have two reasons to bring Duchess Shi here. Firstly, I know that the struggle for the throne has upset many of our citizens, and I wish to present a more peaceful picture to steady them.” Meiyu turned to look at the Duchesses; and although Baofeng couldn’t see her face, she did see the princess’ supporters flinch and retreat, and Baronet Yue’s face paled.

“Secondly,” said Meiyu in the angriest tone Baofeng had ever heard her use, “I would like to remind you, Duchess Qiao, that my father only granted four dukedoms in his lifetime. He gave your parents dukedoms and held daily meetings with them to govern Yidao, and I know that he would have wanted me to do the same with his most trusted peers’ successors. I cannot possibly hold a meeting without all four of you. Do you understand?”

Baofeng supressed a giggle when she saw the three Duchesses bow, and how none of them dared to raise their heads until Meiyu had turned away.

“Besides,” said Meiyu, now looking at Baofeng with a grin, “I am sure nobody would want to seize a throne that is in the middle of various local constituency issues. All that hard work should surely be left to the predecessor to sort out first.”

If they had been talking in private, Baofeng would have rolled her eyes and playfully retorted. Instead, she kept her silence and, hopefully, a straight face too.

She was glad that Meiyu then turned to Baronet Yue, and the meeting resumed. For the first few minutes, Baofeng was still unsure if Meiyu really meant every word she’d said; but when it became clear that the princess expected her to join in—and after a few more minutes of silence as a resistance, she then caved in to voice her opinions—it became obvious that yes, they really were gathered to sort out an issue on the western side of Yidao, and that Meiyu was serious.

At the start of the meeting, Baofeng had wished time would hurry up so she could return home again—but when it drew to a close, instead of accepting Meiyu’s dismissal, she stepped forward and said, “Your Highness, may I have a private word with you?” She didn’t care that the other Duchesses all looked ready to draw their swords, or that Duchess Qiao was eyeing the princess as a silent plea to refuse her request.

Meiyu tilted her head slightly, a sign that she too was taken aback by the request. She then straightened her posture again, and said, “Of course, Duchess Shi.”

Baofeng nodded, and she took a step back. She crossed her arms, and kept them folded until the other nobles had left the room and the main doors had been shut. She looked at Meiyu, who seemed lost—and as she walked towards the throne again, she had no idea whether to be worried or exasperated.

“What are you playing at?” said Baofeng.

“I don’t understand you,” said Meiyu.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

Meiyu hesitated. “I’m not sure. My shoulders were sore when I woke up.”

“Stop acting,” said Baofeng. “There’s nobody else here.”

Meiyu sighed. “I’m sorry if I did something to upset you—”

“You tried to kill me last night.” Baofeng regretted speaking so bluntly when she saw Meiyu’s shocked, paling face.

“Did I?” Meiyu managed to say after a long silence. Her voice seemed ready to break.

“Yes.” Baofeng took off the bracelet and threw it at Meiyu’s feet. “Thanks for your help, but I know my way now.”

She saw Meiyu stand up, and she used that moment to turn around, and began to walk to the main doors.

“You came to the palace last night?” she heard Meiyu say.

Baofeng didn’t answer; and even when she was out of the palace and in the car to her home, she continued to remain silent.

***

Baofeng stayed in her castle for the rest of the day, and went to bed without once considering going to the palace again. She would have been happy to stay away from court the following morning, but the guards made it clear that they would take her there, calmly or not; and since she wasn’t in a mood to argue with anybody, she followed them into the car.

Meiyu was as calm as ever when they commenced the meeting, and Baofeng had a feeling that she was being complimentary to every opinion she offered. At least, that was based on the disgusted looks the other Duchesses kept throwing at her; and for once, she had never been more pleased to be surrounded by her guards on the drive back to her castle—at least they didn’t judge her openly. When she got out of the passenger seat, she spotted two more cars parked up outside, and she realised that Xiuying and Rudan had come to visit her.

A butler directed her to the study, where she found her supporters standing near the doorway. As Baofeng shut the door, she could sense their impatience; and before she could ask anything, Xiuying started with, “I don’t think I have ever been so confused in my life.”

Baofeng gestured at the table, and waited until they were all seated first. “What’s confusing you?” she said.

“Our servant on Yinshudao sent word not an hour ago that they had seen Baronet Yue’s fleet do the most unusual thing,” said Rudan. “They were seen sailing to Jinniaodao where, upon docking, the sailors brought out gunpowder and cargoes of supplies, all of which were then taken onto ships belonging to Jinniaodao.”

“How could your servant be sure?”

“Only Jinniaodao ships use golden sails.” Rudan shook her head. “I cannot understand it. Baronet Yue has never had any significant contacts, and his father’s part in the original war was so small that we all laughed behind his back. He was lucky to have ever been granted a baronetcy at all.”

Baofeng frowned. “The princess must have contacts on Jinniaodao. If—”

“Marquise Huang and I both received the news today,” Rudan continued, “and we both agreed we must come here to tell you.”

Baofeng hesitated. Rudan was glaring sharply at her, and Xiuying seemed to be pointedly refusing to look at her.

“I sense you have something to ask me,” said Baofeng.

“When we came, we were surprised to hear you had gone to the palace. Duchess Shi, enlighten us as to what you were doing in there.”

Baofeng repeated the details of yesterday’s meeting to Xiuying and Rudan. Then, for good measure, she added, “These meetings can be useful. Now that I have legitimate access to the palace again, if I find anything we can manipulate to our advantage, we may still be able to dethrone the princess before she can be crowned.”

Xiuying nodded, and seemed to be more relaxed than before. Rudan was smiling, but Baofeng could tell that the glare in her eyes had not fully gone away yet.

“What a good idea, Duchess Shi,” said Rudan. Her tone had softened. “Are you quite sure the princess fully believes you?”

“Definitely,” said Baofeng. She cleared her throat. “If we may return to our other topic, do either of you have any suggestions for the Jinniaodao situation?”

Xiuying shook her head and said, “The only thing we could possibly do is to get our contacts to sail out to Jinniaodao too, but such a move could be misconstrued on so many levels that it is not worth the risk.” Baofeng agreed, and since there was nothing new for any of them to add, the marquises left the castle five minutes later.

Baofeng was left as alone as she could be for the rest of the day, and she spent most of it on the western side of the castle, where she could see the palace the clearest. When night time came, and she had shut the bedroom door, she decided that she needed to make another visit to the palace.

She emerged in the forest undetected and, without consulting the trees, she made her way through to the palace. As she had expected, the path was still free from soldiers; and the only near miss she had was when she thought she’d rushed into a hiding spot a few seconds too late.

As she ran up the stairs that only the servants used, she momentarily wondered if she should emerge on another floor instead. Could she really face this darker, apparently amnesic Meiyu again without injuring her? She was swayed enough that she lingered on the third floor, but then fled up to the top floor again when she heard someone approaching.

Baofeng opened the door by a crack. When she glimpsed that the top floor was empty, she pushed the door a little wider and slipped through, and then began to head towards Meiyu’s room. She couldn’t have been a minute in when the Lin sisters emerged from ahead. All three were armed with their daggers, and ran fast enough that Baofeng knew she wouldn’t have enough time to swipe the dagger off the wall. Instead, she raised her fan, but she managed to dodge their attacks anyway.

“What are you doing here?” said Baofeng. The sisters were encircling her, but Baofeng had a feeling they were reluctant to act.

“That is a question we should be asking you,” said Yongchun.

“Don’t try and pick that thread with me now. How do I know you are truly loyal to Yidao?”

“Do you think we can go back after all this? We left Anshandao knowing we can never set foot on it again.”

There was genuine anger in Yongchun’s eyes. Maybe Baofeng was being too cynical and harsh about them—but still, she asked them, “Is Marquis Pan really such a fool? You cannot possibly keep telling him that you have found nothing useful because of a crisis succession. Why hasn’t he asked you to return to Anshandao yet?”

“You give him too much credit,” said Yongxia. “He really is a stupid man. He inherited the title because he is the oldest child.”

“Even the dumbest person can tell when they are being tricked,” said Baofeng. She raised her fan until it was touching her chin, and she held her free arm out.

“As if. You’re the proof they can’t,” said Yongchun.

Baofeng’s eyes widened. “You—”

The sisters stood upright, and they sheathed their daggers in unison. Baofeng crouched a little lower—they were going to pull a more lethal weapon out—why else would they just give up like that—?

“The princess knows you’re really an ally.” Yongchun reached into her pocket, and pulled out a white drawstring pouch. “She knows why you wanted to take over the throne. We were coming to find you anyway. She wants to give this back to you.”

Yongchun tossed the pouch, and Baofeng caught it. She didn’t care anymore that Yongxia and Yongqiu passed her to join their sister again, or that they then walked back down the corridor in silence. The guards or the other Duchesses could catch her and force her back to her castle for all she cared—what mattered was that pouch she was opening, and the jade bracelet that she tipped out into her free palm.

All the chips and scratches were still intact. The only change was that a paper tag had been tied between two beads. She breathed in to steady her hand, but it still took a while before she could flip the tag over to read, “I know you still care, Baofeng.”

Baofeng raised the tag up to see the words more clearly. Meiyu had written 宝凤, and she scowled; she had used the 'bao' for precious, not protect. How could the princess and future queen make such a basic, pathetic spelling mistake?

***

It took Baofeng three days before she could work up the courage to confront Meiyu about the bracelet. During that time, she noticed one thing during the meetings which surprised her; Meiyu had good judgement. In general, they agreed with each other; and on the few occasions where they disagreed, Meiyu was so patient in explaining her thoughts through that by the end, Baofeng was almost ashamed she hadn’t considered things that way. By the end of the third meeting, Baofeng had never been more delighted that her plan to poison Meiyu had fallen through.

On the fourth day, Meiyu was just about to start the meeting when the main doors flung open, and a smiling Baronet Yue hurried in. Trailing him were Xiuying and Rudan, whose expressions were a mixture of fury and panic.

“Your Highness,” said Baronet Yue as he bowed. “We have successfully defeated the navy from Anshandao.”

Baofeng looked at Meiyu and, ignoring the two Marquises, said, “Your Highness, how could this happen?”

Meiyu grinned. “Thank you, Baronet Yue. I will deal with this later; but for now, can everybody except Duchess Shi please leave the room? I will make sure you are all well attended to while you wait.”

“Your Highness, I must say—” Rudan began, but she stopped talking when Meiyu glared at her, and she hastily followed Xiuying out of the room.

Baofeng breathed in heavily, and kept her head down. She had to focus on what to ask Meiyu—everything she’d wanted to ask before would have to be pushed aside for now—and the next time she looked up was when she heard the doors close, and Meiyu started to speak.

“I can understand why you’re surprised,” said Meiyu.

“You have a contact on Jinniaodao,” said Baofeng. “You got Baronet Yue to work with your contact.”

“It really pays to have a great-aunt on the island. I suppose you will be even more surprised to hear that Baroness Xiao is due an elevated title after everything that has happened.”

Baofeng hesitated—what did she have to do with it all?—and then she gasped as she remembered why she’d left the island in the first place.

“You’re cousins?” said Baofeng. “Why didn’t I know? Why did she side with us?”

“She's my second cousin. Her grandfather and my grandfather were brothers, and yet they fought so fiercely all their lives that their relationship was beyond amends. My father was never allowed to see his cousins which always troubled him, so he granted them a barony as a small gesture.” Meiyu shrugged. “Who knows why Baroness Xiao decided to turn on me? Maybe she wanted to distance herself from me. She certainly never seemed fully comfortable on your team.”

Baofeng snorted. “I don’t think anybody does with Marquise Huang and Marquise Jin breathing down their necks all the time.”

Meiyu leaned back into her seat. “Well, you put up rather well with them.”

“They were only nice to me because they wanted me on the throne.” Baofeng pulled the bracelet out of her pocket, and handed it to Meiyu. “I wanted to speak to you in private anyway. If you want to be a good ruler, you should at least get the names of your duchesses right.”

Meiyu frowned as she looked down at the tag. “What’s the problem?” she said.

“You wrote the wrong ‘bao’. It’s ‘bao’ as in protect, not precious.”

Meiyu looked up, her eyes wide out of shock and surprise. She said, “When did you change your name?”

“A long time ago.” Baofeng refused to make eye contact, but she knew that Meiyu had stepped down from her throne.

“Why?” said Meiyu. Her tone was so soft that Baofeng had to look at her—and she had to take in the look of curiosity and confusion. “What was wrong with your name?”

“What use is it being precious when we’re at war—hey—” Baofeng started when Meiyu grabbed her free hand; and she was so stunned by how warm it felt to have her hand in someone else’s that she gave up trying to free herself very quickly.

“You’re still precious to me,” said Meiyu. “I know it’s hard to believe after everything that’s happened, but…”

There was a short silence, and Baofeng wished Meiyu would finish her sentence. When it was becoming obvious that she wouldn’t, she said, “Don’t tell me you still want to be friends with me.”

“You’ve obviously read the tag.”

Baofeng’s cheeks felt hot. Oh, no, she wasn’t blushing, was she? She sighed when she heard Meiyu giggle.

“I haven’t seen you like this in ages,” said Meiyu. “I really missed it.”

Baofeng wanted to retort back, but she figured it would ruin the mood. Instead, she just smiled, and then leaned in to kiss Meiyu.

She blushed even harder when she felt Meiyu wrap an arm around her waist—but it was at that moment that she pulled away. It was rather hard to be romantic when she knew that there were both furious and cheerful nobles waiting outside the room. Besides, they would have plenty of time together afterwards.

“Wait,” said Baofeng, “let’s do the meeting first, and then we’ll—you know—” Meiyu nodded, and slowly pulled her arm back from Baofeng’s waist. When nothing else happened, Baofeng looked down and said, “Are you going to release my hand?”

“I’m worried I’ll never get to hold it again.”

Baofeng laughed. “If we let them in now,” she said, “we’re going to drive all the duchesses and marquises of the kingdom mad.”

Meiyu also laughed. “I think they’re in the mood to take one more surprise, don’t you?”


End file.
